Poor Reception: Warner Curtails Qube

Warner curtails Qube

In 1977, when Warner Communications with great fanfare launched Qube, a "two-way television" system, Gustave Hauser, then chairman of the firm's cable operations, hailed the Columbus venture as "a supermarket of electronic services."

Eventually the system expanded to five other cities and became a joint venture of Warner and American Express. But last week a key part of Warner Amex's ambitious Qube experiment joined the growing list of cable-TV casualties.

The Qube service enables subscribers using hand-held terminals to participate from their homes in programs ranging from quiz shows to televised public opinion polls. But after finding a lack of interest...